Well, you knew it was coming, didn’t you?

When Kansas University captured the NCAA men’s basketball championship last April in San Antonio, you knew a boost in next season’s ticket prices was as inevitable as death, taxes and asphalt.

You knew it was coming, but you may have been surprised by the $10 jolt. Tickets that cost $45 during the NCAA championship season will go for $55 in 2008-09. That’s a notable 22 percent increase.

Not that the bulk of you will enjoy the opportunity of buying a ticket, not with qualification for purchase based on a healthy donation to the Williams Fund.

Kansas Athletic Inc. officials say they jacked up the cost of the pasteboards in order to fund capital improvements – like Allen Fieldhouse enhancements, a new practice facility and improved living conditions for the most recognizable student-athletes on campus.

Not that they really needed tangible reasons. Price hikes in the wake of championships are byproducts of a market economy.

The last time KU elevated ticket prices was two years ago – an adjustment from $40 to $45.

That decision was made after the Jayhawks had dropped back-to-back first-round games in the NCAA Tournament and, in retrospect, may have taken more chutzpah than the current $10 upshot.

With a 21-game home schedule – 20 in Allen Fieldhouse and one in the K.C. Sprint Center – the cost of a KU season ticket has climbed into four figures for the first time at $1,155. Since most people buy at least two tickets, that doubles the nut to $2,310.

Throw in a parking pass for each AFH game – up from $15 to $17.30 – and that adds another $346 to the bill. Total cost: $2,656.

Whew. That’s a hefty price to pay in this day and age of $4 per gallon gasoline, steadily increasing grocery prices and the fact the Jayhawks, nearly bereft of the ’08 title team members, will be in a rebuilding mode.

Does the state of the economy and the uncertainty surrounding next year’s KU team mean the fieldhouse won’t be sold out for the umpteenth straight year?

Not likely. Not with the Residual Effect Factor in play. Sports teams traditionally set attendance records following championship seasons so I’ll be surprised if the SRO sign isn’t hanging with the “Beware of the Phog” banner again.

At the same time, however, any slippage in the program’s elite status could lead to more and more tickets appearing on those innumerable high-priced resale Web sites.

Curiously, on the same day KU officials revealed the price hike, the Knight Commission – aka the Voice in the Wilderness – staged a get-together in Washington, D.C., with the emphasis on college basketball.

One of the topics at this session featuring coaches, administrators and university presidents was the length of the basketball season. After discussion, they reached the consensus that the season runs much too long, that it causes too many missed classes and leads to too much stress on the players.

Not that any KU fan would agree with those findings. Around here, folks think the season is too short. Way too short.